Letters

Trash, trash and more trash was all over the streets of Las Vegas that served as a route for the “beautiful” light parade.

It is amazing that people can sit there eating and drinking while they watch this beautiful entertainment that the city has put together for their enjoyment, and then get up and go home, leaving all their trash behind.

The city streets are part of our habitat, just as our homes are. However, I don’t think we would just leave trash in the same manner at our homes.

I was very sorry to hear of the recent New Mexico infant whooping cough deaths, one in San Miguel County. The state Department of Health has information important to all families and caregivers of infants about protecting them. Since babies are too small to be vaccinated against whooping cough, and aren’t fully protected until they get all their boosters, all adults who will be around them need to get an update to their pertussis vaccine.

Because fracking contributes to the degradation of our water, our air and our health, I am opposed to it. But I am also concerned about the fact that if a corporation wants to frack on your property and you refuse to sign, the corporation will maneuver to frack your land against your will.

In a recent news report, Reuters uncovered that in Texas, the state approved most of Chesapeake’s requests to drill on land that owners refused to lease.When profit is involved, property rights are not respected.

In response to Art Trujillo‘s “Work of Art — Ultima, Ultimately” (Nov. 21, 2012) column, I would like to share a story of my own.

About 10 years ago, while serving as a hospice chaplain in southwest Iowa, I stopped one day at a nursing home to meet a new patient of ours. I shall refer to her as Margaret, a lady in her late 70s of German and Czech heritage. She had recently been referred to hospice care with terminal cancer which, among other things, had metastasized to her brain and destroyed her eyesight.

It seems every letter to the editor written by someone opposed to fracking never cites the sources that support their position. The most recent by Diana Presser is just another example. Why is that?

As someone who has been active in water issues in San Miguel and Mora counties, I’m as concerned about protecting our limited water supply as anyone. I will gladly join the anti-fracking opposition if they will only share their unbiased sources of data.

When we completed the last mural panel for the “The Peoples History of El Norte,” none of the contemporary issues illustrated were resolved. Since then four of six have been resolved by a concerted grassroots effort by the people of San Miguel County.

Whites Peak has been returned to the people, Invenergy has been blocked from littering the Bernal mesa with turbines, the PNM plant on the west side of Las Vegas has been shut down, and the 1199 have finally prevailed against Alta Vista Regional Hospital.

In the past, Senate members used a filibuster as a means of bringing attention to a high-profile bill they disagreed with. For many, many years it was seldom employed but since the 1970s it has been used repeatedly to stop much of the chamber’s work. Both parties have used the filibuster to alter simple “majority rules” bills to supermajority votes, so this is not a partisan issue.

Veterans Day started early as members of VFW Post 1547 and DAV Post 17 battled the bitter cold to post our National Flags around Veterans’ Park. Elks Lodge 401 hosted a breakfast for Veterans at their local Lodge. At 11 a.m., veterans and community members gathered on Sunday, Nov. 11, to celebrate with local veterans.

Despite the cold and windy conditions, the determination of our local community to pay tribute and acknowledge those who served, leaving loved ones behind, and those who never returned, leaving broken hearts and memories.